A 48-year-old woman apparently locked herself out of her Stafford home and her car - and died of hypothermia in her backyard last week, authorities said. The death has been ruled accidental.Google Maps

STAFFORD — A 48-year-old woman died in her backyard of hypothermia after being locked out of her house and her car, authorities said.

Maureen Salao locked herself out of both sometime overnight from Dec. 12 to 13, said Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

Temperatures in the area that night were recorded as being less than 20 degrees, he added.

A family member discovered the woman in her Canal Avenue backyard the next afternoon before 2 p.m., Della Fave said.

The subsequent autopsy by the medical examiner determined that the cause of death was hypothermia, and it was accidental, he added.

A toxicology screen is pending to determine whether Salao had impaired judgment at the time of her death, Della Fave said.